星空传媒

It鈥檚 not exciting work. But it all adds up. Northern contractor Strategic Team Group has been doing all right on the back of the DDA: several UCI cinemas, so far worth 拢100,000 with more to come; 96 petrol stations worth 拢62,000; and one 拢90,000 school project. Not to be sneezed at when your turnover is 拢8.3m.

And there鈥檚 more work on the horizon. The firm is tendering for a package of around 20 schools which could be worth up to 拢2.8m and for 48 DVLA premises.

The reason why Strategic likes DDA stuff, is that it has been set up to deal with maintenance work. You have to do a lot of jobs for a fairly lowly turnover. The reward for all that work, says business development director Charles Tweed, is that you make a relatively high profit.

So for the year ending April 2004, the firm made 拢704,000 profit before tax on its 拢8.3m turnover. That鈥檚 8.46%.

Strategic Team Group is a very grand name for a small maintenance company. But Tweed, with MD Andy Watson and operations director Gary Taylor are starting as they mean to go on. So the firm鈥檚 annual report is as glossy and professional as any you鈥檒l see.

Tweed has plenty of business experience. He sold the family firm, Station Maintenance, of which he owned 85% to Mansell in 1997 for 拢3.4m. Watson and Taylor had worked for him in the old business.

At 44, Tweed is the old man of the company, according to 34-year-old Watson. With an average age of 30, the workforce is a young one for construction.

These guys want to do well, to make money, to have a good lifestyle. And they have constructed the company so that it should be fuelled by the same ambitions throughout the workforce. Every member of staff gets the opportunity for share options after a year and all get bonuses related to their performance.

Strategic pays staff an hourly rate from when they leave their homes, not from when they arrive on site, and they don鈥檛 pay piece work because the directors think that leads to corner-cutting. Instead staff get performance-related quarterly bonuses. Last year the firm paid out 拢80,000. There are 68 employees.

What does that mean on the ground? 鈥淚 genuinely believe we get a higher level of productivity from our guys due to the commitment,鈥� says Watson.

Neil Lockwood, headmaster of Ravensthorpe primary school where Strategic carried out a 拢80,000 contract to adapt his primary school is full of praise for the tradesmen. Part of the eight-week programme which saw the building of seven ramps, the installation of a special toilet and shower, and alterations to doors happened while 400 children and 60 adults were still using the building and playgrounds. 鈥淲hat impressed me was the way they conducted themselves with the children and staff and the way they made life easy for us,鈥� says Lockwood. 鈥淚t was difficult to manage for everybody, but we got the feeling that for them it was a matter of getting the job done because it was the right thing to do. That鈥檚 the type of company you need to do work in a school.鈥�

Simple maintenance may be Strategic鈥檚 bread and butter but it isn鈥檛 sticking there. As well as a Scottish branch which does petrol station maintenance, the firm has added Strategic Shutters & Doors, Strategic Safety Services and most recently Strategic Mechanical & Electrical Services. The rationale behind these moves, says Tweed, is to start businesses in areas where they鈥檙e not getting good service. The directors of these companies have part-ownership to incentivise them.

The firm enjoyed success with new build last year, completing a 拢1m design and build scheme for Chevin Housing Group. It has launched a new build work department. The plan is to grow further, getting cash to invest by floating on the Alternative Investment Market in 2006.